Dr. Deborah L. Harrington

With extensive experience teaching and administering at California’s community colleges for 40+ years prior to her retirement in 2026, Dr. Harrington has led national and state efforts to improve student access, success, and equity and to provide effective professional learning resources to faculty through her service as project coordinator and educational consultant in many nationally-recognized programs, including California’s Puente Project, Carnegie/Annenberg/Ford Foundations’ Teachers for a New Era Project, and USC and Irvine Foundation’s Diversity/Equity Scorecard Project. Additionally, Dr. Harrington has served as Principal Investigator on several national, state, and foundation grants, including those funded by the Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, and the College Futures Foundation.

Dr. Harrington is a first-generation college-goer and holds a doctorate in education from the University of California, Los Angeles; a master’s degree in English from California State University, Northridge; a BA in English from UCLA; and an AA in humanities from College of the Canyons.

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